


love and laughter, joy ever after

by Tori_Scribbles



Category: The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Can't Go Home For Christmas, Christmas Decorations... Of A Sort, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Families of Choice, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Queer Themes, Roommates, Service Dogs, Snow Day, The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:27:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28059180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tori_Scribbles/pseuds/Tori_Scribbles
Summary: When the news first broke that they couldn’t travel home for Christmas, everybody pushed it aside, too busy worrying about upcoming exams to focus on something that was nearly a month away but as classes started to break for the holidays, moods in the dorms shifted.To keep everyone’s spirits high and to distract them from their homesickness, Minho had come up with a plan – something that instantly made everybody wary when he’d announced it but they’d gone along with it anyway because honestly, how much worse could this whole situation get anyway – his plan was simple as he announced to everyone living on their floor of dorms one night in the common room, stood unnecessarily on top of the dining table just for dramatic effect.There were three stages to it. Stage one: decorate! Turn their entire floor into some sort of festive extravaganza, preferably with what you had to hand with absolutely no limit. Stage two: gifts! To stop them all going bankrupt trying to buy gifts for everyone on their floor they’d decided to throw everyone’s names in a hat and everybody got to pick one and you’d only buy something for that person. Stage three: celebrate!
Relationships: Harriet/Sonya | Elizabeth "Lizzy" (Maze Runner), Newt/Thomas (Maze Runner)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26
Collections: Maze Runner Secret Santa 2020





	love and laughter, joy ever after

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas [goddamitelizabeth!](www.goddamitelizabeth.tumblr.com) I hope you have a wonderful holiday and a great new year!! 
> 
> The title comes from Mistletoe and Wine by Cliff Richard

When the news first broke that they couldn’t travel home for Christmas, everybody pushed it aside, too busy worrying about upcoming exams to focus on something that was nearly a month away but as classes started to break for the holidays, moods in the dorms shifted.

Thomas probably cared least out of his friendship group, he’d have been spending the holiday season with his aunt and her new husband and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t glad to be away from the drama that would bring. Instead, he got to spend it around people he actually cared about and with good food from someone who could actually cook.

To keep everyone’s spirits high and to distract them from their homesickness, Minho had come up with a plan – something that instantly made everybody wary when he’d announced it but they’d gone along with it anyway because honestly, how much worse could this whole situation get anyway – his plan was simple as he announced to everyone living on their floor of dorms one night in the common room, stood unnecessarily on top of the dining table just for dramatic effect.

There were three stages to it. Stage one: decorate! Turn their entire floor into some sort of festive extravaganza, preferably with what you had to hand with absolutely no limit. Stage two: gifts! To stop them all going bankrupt trying to buy gifts for everyone on their floor they’d decided to throw everyone’s names in a hat and everybody got to pick one and you’d only buy something for that person. Stage three: celebrate! Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day all had a variety of plans dotted through, from a cozie movie night to a three course meal to a games afternoon with a stack of board games that Minho and Gally had suspiciously “liberated” from all around campus.

Thomas had already got stage two covered, he’d drawn Sonya’s name out of the hat and he was more than happy to use his connection through Newt to figure out the best thing to buy and in the end, he’d settled on a nice set of watercolour paints and some new brushes for her. He’d wrapped them as neatly as he could and snuck into the common room at midnight to set them under the pot plant strung in lights and cheap baubles that was being used as their Christmas tree.

What he couldn’t figure out was who Newt had to shop for. Despite sharing a dorm and having very little concept of personal space between the two of them, Thomas still couldn’t figure it out. At first, he’d thought that Newt had drawn Thomas’ own name out of the hat but drawing your significant other’s name was strictly against Minho’s rules on pain of “getting the shittest slice of turkey” if you break them – Frypan had protested this, saying that none of his turkey was shit but alas Minho had ignored him and gone on.

Now Thomas finds himself sitting with his back against the common room couch, cutting old class print outs and notes into strips, with Lea laying over his feet to keep them warm as she snoozed in the afternoon light that shone through the windows. Brenda sat next to him, threading the strips that he cut together into a multicoloured paper chain.

He hears the door open behind them but doesn’t turn to see who it is as he measures the next bunch of strips to cut.

“I see you’ve stolen my dog again.”

Lea’s head shoots up at the sound of Newt’s voice, her tail thumping against the floor as he circles around the couch to sit on the floor next to her.

“She followed me,” Thomas defends, though he smiles as he watches Newt scratch behind her ears and she tries to bury her nose in his hoodie pocket.

Newt hums doubtfully but doesn’t protest. He’d been on facetime in Sonya’s room with their mom with her door propped open so Lea could trot in and out as she pleased and apparently she’d gotten bored waiting for them to be done and came to find someone else.

“How’s your mom?” Thomas asks, adding more strips to the pile and Newt reaches out to take a couple, folding one around to start his own chain.

“Working loads,” Newt replies, his voice sounding heavier and tired though his expression doesn’t change as he focusses on the paper.

He’d said he hadn’t minded staying for the holidays, that his mom was going to be working Christmas anyway so it wouldn’t make that much difference but it was clear that not getting to go home was starting to take a toll despite the array of distractions that surrounded them. But for now, Thomas let it slide, knowing that if he mentioned it in front of Brenda then Newt would brush him off, wanting everyone to think he was okay. Though judging by the double-take Brenda shoots him, she’d already cottoned on that his mood was shifting.

“Well now you’re off the phone, you can help with these,” she says, gesturing one-handedly to organised mess that surrounds them, “Gally’s gone out to get some lights to thread through them and you know he’ll be delighted if he can’t put them straight up.”

Newt snorts slightly. “How many more lights is he going to put up?” he asks, “isn’t there enough in here?”

There were lights sellotaped all around the edge of the room in here, running over to tops of the kitchen cabinets and even stuck hazardously to the extractor fan above the oven. They’d stuck more lights around each window, making the fake plants on the ledges glow a strangely bright green that would smell like burning plastic if they were left on for too long. Not to mention the two sets of lights that were weaved around the spider plant made Christmas tree that was almost definitely a fire hazard that Thomas tried not to think about whenever they had to water it.

“These are for the corridor,” he replies, giving up on cutting to help tape the chain together. “Apparently that needs more festivity.”

“Minho?” Newt asks with an amused expression.

Thomas shakes his head, with a smile of his own. “Harriet actually.”

Newt laughs, his eyes sparkling in the light as he shakes his head. “I’ve never known anyone to take Christmas this seriously before,” he says.

“I still say Fry should be getting graded on this dinner he’s making,” Brenda puts in, “he’s cooking for what fourteen of us?”

“Fifteen,” Thomas corrects, “Gally invited Chuck. He’s still not getting on with his dormmate.”

“Fry has a shit-tonne of coursework as it is and he’s still wanting to cook a three course meal for fifteen people.” Brenda shakes her head in disbelief. “This should go towards his final grade is all I’m saying.”

“He’s letting Harriet and Aris help now,” Newt says, frowning down at his hands as he tries to unpeel the tape that’s stuck together and stick it down properly.

“That’s something,” Brenda mutters then tosses the chain she’s been working on for the last hour and a half into a heap to stretch up, her back and shoulders cracking loud enough to make Lea open her eyes to see if anything interesting is happening. “Though I’m done for the day,” she declares, “I do actually like having feeling in my fingers.”

“Do you reckon it’s long enough for the hall yet?” Thomas asks hopefully, his own hand aching from the crappy pair of scissors that’s handle was broken so they’d only cut if you kept your fingers at a weird angle as you closed them.

Brenda hums consideringly, tilting her head to look down at the pile. “If we stick the two your working on to it, it might be?” she says like she knows how to properly measure out a giant paperchain.

They stick it all together and bundle the chain up between them, carrying it out into the corridor. Dropping the whole thing in a heap at one end, Brenda grabs the end, walking backwards down the hall, stretching it out as Thomas and Newt made sure it didn’t get caught as it unravelled.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to make the chain as the lights were threaded through?” Newt asks, squinting consideringly as Brenda gets to the end of the corridor, loops the chain behind the fake plant that’s there to start walking it back.

“Probably,” Thomas admits, “but that’s Gally’s problem.”

Newt snorts softly, shaking his head. He opens his mouth to respond but Brenda cursing loudly cuts him off. She’s still a good two metres away from them and has run out of the chain.

“If you pull it around further it can just start in line with those doors,” Thomas suggests, gesturing between the common room entrance and the door to Ben and Gally’s room, “at least that way it will look deliberate.”

Brenda tugs it around to line up where he’d suggested and assess it with a considering tilt of her head and a thoughtful hum. “Yeah.” She shrugs, letting the end fall through her fingers to the floor, “that’ll work.”

Thomas pulls his phone out of his pocket, sending a message to the floors group chat that if anyone comes out of their room without looking and treads on it, it’s on pain of being murdered by Brenda.

He gets a laughing emoji back from Harriet in return and a simple: noted, from Teresa, before he shoves his phone back in his hoodie pocket as Brenda looks down at the screen of her own to reply.

“Ben says they’re almost back,” she says, then rolls her eyes, “apparently they forgot more tape so if anyone is going near a store can they pick some up.”

“I’m gonna take Lea out,” Newt says, “I can run in the store and get some.”

Thomas looks towards the window at the other end of the hall, it’s already dark, making it look colder than it is as the leaves on the tree outside rustle in the breeze. “I’ll come with you,” he volunteers, “I haven’t actually been out today.” Much to Minho’s displeasure at losing a running partner this morning when Thomas had opted to stay cocooned under the warmth of his covers this morning with Newt in his arms instead of going out.

Newt nods. “May as well go now.” He gives an easy whistle and Lea appears around the common room door, one of her ears folded backwards where she’d slept. “C’mon, you,” he says, his voice fond as he fixes her ear.

Brenda waves them away, assuring them that she’ll clear up the rest of the paper for them though Thomas expects that has more to do with her wanting the TV to herself for a while than anything else. He and Newt duck back into their room and Thomas sits down on the edge of his bed to tug on his sneakers as Newt pulls on the thick, fleece lined jacket that Thomas bought him the year before reaching for Lea’s leash and jacket from the basket that they sit in by the door. Thomas leans back, watching the pair with a fondness in his eyes as Lea ducks her head through her jacket, her tail wagging enthusiastically as it does every time. Newt murmurs to her softly as he clips it together, the tension that he’d held after his call had fallen away as he laughed at her antics. Thomas always loves to watch them, he didn’t think he’ll ever fully understand their relationship but he remains in awe of it every time she pulls Newt out of his head and back into the present when nobody else can.

Newt straightened up, looking over at him. “You ready?”

Thomas pushes himself up to his feet. “Yup,” he lies, grabbing his wallet and keys off of the dresser, reaching out Newt to grab his own jacket. Newt just rolls his eyes, pulling the door open.

As they step outside Thomas presses closer to Newt with a hiss as the cold air hits them. Newt laughs at him, trading Lea’s leash into his other hand so he could lace his fingers with Thomas’.

“It’s not that cold,” he says, a teasing note to his voice.

“It’s supposed to snow tonight,” Thomas retorts, tucking his chin into his coat to try and protect himself from the icy air that seems to bite at his skin. “Not all of us are born in this climate.” He thinks of winters back in California where you could still leave the house without a sweater during most days and it never dropped below freezing.

Newt laughs at him. “It would have probably snowed by now back home,” he says, the humour slipping out of his voice a little and Thomas knows he is thinking about his childhood home back in England as opposed to the place his family now calls home in Missouri.

Thomas gives him room to speak and it takes a minute before Newt goes on. “I’m alright,” he says, looking across to meet Thomas’ eyes and Thomas can see that he thinks that although there’s a sadness in his gaze. “Really. It’s just that time of year and being away from home is just… weird. I feel bad for people like Chuck, he’s barely eighteen and he kind of hates it here.”

Thomas squeezes his hand and lets Newt change the subject, trusting that this is just one of those things that they have to get through rather than fix. “I’m still surprised he hasn’t dropped out yet,” he says, looking back forward as they pass a couple of girls on the sidewalk.

“I think he might have if Gally didn’t drag him up to us.”

Thomas remembers the second week of the semester where they’d all just about adjusted to being back when Minho, Ben and Gally had come into the common room, an upset looking Chuck gathered up between them, looking barely old enough to be in high school let alone across the country from home to be in college. He’s a good kid and Thomas thinks he’ll find himself able to fit in better when he stops trying to prove himself and is able to just be himself but until he does, they’re all happy to have him around, adopting him easily into their own little cohort that feels closer to family than anything else Thomas has ever known, even when he argues with Gally over stupid things and Minho drags him on early morning runs when there’s ice on the ground and the sun has yet to rise. Somehow this mismatched group of people from all over getting made to live in close quarters is one of the best things that’s ever happened to Thomas.

“He’ll be alright,” he says and Newt hums in agreement beside him, “it just takes some time, finding people that you fit in with.”

Something in his voice must give away the sentimentality that Thomas feels as he thinks of their group of friends because Newt looks back across at him with that glint in his eyes that makes Thomas feel known right down to his core. A year ago that expression had made him want to run as far away from this place - from Newt – as possible. But now, it warms him. Knowing that there is somebody who knows his mind better than he probably knows himself. He doesn’t need to speak his fears or joys, because he has someone at his side who knows - by the sound of his voice or the look in his eye – exactly what he’s thinking.

It’s not a one way street, in turn, Thomas knows that the way Newt had hurriedly changed their conversation onto Chuck was a way to deflect. Giving him time to process his own feelings on being so far from what he knows for the holidays without getting agitated and unconsciously taking his frustrations out on Thomas. Thomas also knows that later, maybe a few hours, or a few days, Newt will tell him where his mind has gone and in the meantime, all he needs is for Thomas to be here for him because that’s enough.

Now Thomas can see the way Newt’s eyes soften as they meet his, asking a question without needing to speak the words. Asking if he wants to elaborate about where his mind is going and when Thomas gives the slightest of smiles, in turn, Newt knows the answer.

“C’mon,” he says, tugging Thomas with their joined hands towards the bright lights of the store, “I wanna get back before they decide to order pizza for the third time this week.”

Thomas laughs, letting himself be pulled into the warmth of the convenience store. “We’ve only had it twice,” he says, his lips quirking into a smile of his own as he makes Newt roll his eyes.

“Ordered twice for three meals,” Newt corrects, “we had it for breakfast on Monday. Check the group chat, will you? See what else they needed.”

Thomas concedes the pizza topic with a hum as he digs his phone out of his pocket, using his fingerprint to unlock it, holding it a little awkwardly so he doesn’t have to let go of Newt’s hand as he opens the group chat.

“Uh, Fry doesn’t think we have enough gravy,” he says, scrolling back up through the chat that had unsurprisingly descended into bickering which descended further into the rapid sending of gifs and memes. “Oh, and milk, apparently there’s not enough for whatever Minho thinks is the right amount of hot chocolate, he says can we grab two cartons?”

“We already have-” Newt cuts himself off with a shake of his head, looping Lea’s lead over his wrist so he could grab a basket, “yeah we’ll get a couple. Is that it?”

Thomas nods as he typed the question to double check, almost instantly getting a thumbs up and three different smiley face emoji’s back from Minho. “Yeah, that’s it,” he says, putting his phone away.

The shop was busier than he anticipated it to be but the aisles were bustling with people from all across campus, grabbing the last of their shopping before Christmas Eve tomorrow. They find what they need with relative ease, grabbing the last box of tape off of the shelf and using Lea to help them navigate their way through the clumps of people – because students were always predictable enough to move out of the way for a dog while cooing “aw puppy” but not noticing the people around them.

At the checkout, Thomas took the basket from Newt, letting him head towards the door rather than the three of them trying to navigate the narrow aisle to queue down while people were still trying to shop. Once he’d gone through the checkout, he headed towards the exit, taking a picture of the receipt for the group chat as he goes so that someone else – probably Teresa – could do the maths of splitting the price between them all.

“Hey, Tommy. Come look at this.”

Thomas looks up at Newt’s voice as he draws closer, shoving the receipt and his cellphone away. “What is it?” he asks and Newt nods towards the windows and Thomas comes to a stop next to him, following his gaze outside.

The couldn’t have been inside the shop for more than twenty minutes but in that time it had started to snow, a thin blanket of white settling across the pavement and trees outside. It was coming down heavy enough that Thomas could barely see the parking lot not thirty feet away through the haze of large flakes.

He could feel himself smiling as he caught sight of two girls, no older than they were, spinning each other around with shrieks of laughter, leaving footprints behind them. Before college Thomas had lived in southern California his whole life, he hadn’t grown up with ice and snow, even in the winter and there was something about seeing it now, so close to Christmas that made it feel like they were in one of those holiday movies where everything was just that little bit more festive than reality.

“Think it’ll stick around for Christmas?” he asks, passing the shopping bags into his other hand so he can tug his hood up before they go outside.

They step outside and away from the store as Newt turns his gaze up to the sky, looking around like he can see something up in the clouds that Thomas doesn’t even try to make out, watching Newt instead, as flakes cling to his eyelashes and melt as they touch his lips.

“It’ll stay,” Newt says, the words sounding certain as he speaks them. He smiles slightly, looking lighter than he has in days, as though, despite all the uncertainty of the last few weeks, he knows what to do what snow. Not for the first time, the love that Thomas feels for him swells in his chest and he reaches out.

He links his fingers through Newt’s, tugging him gently forward. As Newt turns to look at him, Thomas presses his lips against his, kissing the snow away softly. He lets his forehead rest against Newt’s as he feels him smile against his mouth.

“What was that for?” Newt asks, a quiet note of surprise in his voice but he doesn’t pull away or protest.

Thomas opens his eyes. “Why does there have to be a reason?” he asks back and Newt’s expression softens into an open look of fondness that makes Thomas think he’s resisting the urge to roll his eyes at him.

A snowflake lands on the corner of Thomas’ eye and he blinks, startled by the sudden coldness and Newt laughs as the gentle moment fades away.

“Come on,” he says, letting his arm fall around Thomas’ shoulders, “let’s get back before you freeze.”

“It’s not that bad,” Thomas lies, pressing closer to seek the warmth from Newt’s body.

Newt hums doubtfully, humour shining in his eyes but doesn’t laugh at him outright as they traipse back through the maze of buildings to theirs.

~~ o ~~

Thomas wakes surrounded by warmth. A heavy weight pressing down on his feet above the covers and his head pillowed on soft skin as fingers comb gently through his hair. He lays there for a moment, basking in the feeling, close enough to sleep that he could slip back under if he let himself.

Instead, he turns his head, pressing a soft kiss against Newt’s skin and the fingers in his hair still as he opens his eyes.

“Good morning,” Newt says and Thomas smiles to himself. If he woke up this way every day for the rest of his life, he would be happy.

“Morning,” he replies, wriggling his toes underneath Lea to see her blink up at them sleepily, her golden fur shining in the morning light that comes through the crack in the curtains. He reaches out a hand for her and she pulls herself closer, her head dropping back down on his stomach so he can scratch at her ears and in turn, Newt resumes playing with his hair. “What time is it?” he asks, not wanting to move and reach for his phone, instead he tilts his head further back into Newt’s hand so he can look up at him. His blond hair ruffled from sleep, making him look softer and more vulnerable in the dim light.

“Half seven,” Newt replies, his eyes flicking to his cellphone in his hand.

Thomas hums, letting his cheek rest back down against Newt’s chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart beating against his skin.

“Minho wants everyone outside soon,” Newt goes on, his voice gentle in the morning slumber. “I was about to wake you.”

Thomas tries to recall the schedule that had been put together and frowns slightly. “I don’t remember anything about outside on the itinerary.”

“It wasn’t,” Newt says, tapping something on his phone before holding it down so Thomas can see.

There’s a photo on the screen taken from the room next door to them, what’s usually an open stretch of grass that they kick a soccer ball around is covered in a thick layer of untouched snow, deep enough that it rises halfway up the side of the picnic bench. Newt clicks back off the image into the group chat and underneath is a moving gif from Frozen where Ana presses herself against the door with the caption “Do you wanna build a snowman?”

Thomas snorts softly to himself. “I’ve never built a proper snowman before,” he says making Newt’s fingers still in his hair as he stares down at him in disbelief for a moment before he shakes his head.

“Alright,” he says, sounding more awake, making Lea’s head snap up ready to move. “Come on. Get up. We’re going outside.”

Thomas laughs, letting himself be pushed away to get up. Lea whines as she’s displaced but jumps down, looking up at Newt with wide eyes, hopeful for breakfast.

Newt swings his legs over the side of the bed, pushing himself up to ruffle her fur. “Alright,” he says to her wagging tail, “breakfast.”

Thomas gets ready as Newt sees to Lea, opting to shower after they go outside and get freezing cold and wet, instead opting to pull on his thickest hoodie and two pairs of socks.

Once they’re both dressed and Lea has finished scoffing down her breakfast they grab their jackets and shoes, heading into the common room to seek out caffeine before they venture outside.

Unlike usual, they’re not the last ones up, Sonya, Harriet and Aris are in a heap together on the couch and Lea darts away from Newt’s side to hop up next to them to try and lick at Sonya’s face despite her halfhearted protests, while in the kitchen area, Minho sits on top of one of the counters, his eyes alight as his legs swing back and forth, a cup of coffee steaming in his hands. Frypan is leaning against the cabinet next to him, buttering a bagel to add to the stack on the plate at his elbow.

Greetings spread around the room and they moved to accept the mugs that Minho nudged towards them, one of coffee and another of tea, made just as they like them.

“Help yourself to bagels,” Frypan says, “Gally refuses to go outside until he’s had food.”

Newt takes a sip of his tea. “You could make him make his own,” he says and Frypan shoots him a disbelieving look as though that’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard.

“And have him set fire to the toaster again?” Frypan scoffs. “I’ll pass. I don’t want firemen in here again before I gotta cook tomorrow.”

Thomas smiles around his mouthful of coffee as he remembers the chaos that Gally’s cooking brings. His own cooking doesn’t come close to the masterpieces that Frypan can concoct - but at least he’s never actually set anything on fire before. Instead of commenting, he snatches a bagel up off the plate. 

The common room door opens again and Brenda and Teresa come in, bundled up in hoodies and beanies, Teresa’s hair pulled back in two braids.

“Ooh, bagels,” Brenda says in lieu of a greeting, making grabby hands towards the plate and Thomas steps back so she doesn’t go straight through him to get them.

“Why are we up this early on Christmas Eve?” Teresa asks, smiling in thanks as she takes a mug of tea from Minho.

“Because have you looked outside,” Minho retorts. Teresa rolls her eyes at his dramatics but moves to look out of the window nonetheless. 

“It looks cold,” she says blandly and Minho splutters indignantly but even across the room, Thomas can see the teasing glint in her eyes.

Eventually, the others stumble out of their rooms and they all bundle on their extra layers before heading downstairs.

It’s early enough that the rest of the campus is still asleep but as soon as the front door is open Lea leads the charge at Newt’s soft “okay”. She bounds through the snow, flicking it up with her nose and trying to catch the flakes that still fall.

They all laugh as she jumps to catch the snowball Newt sends her way and rolls as she lands, leaving a large golden retriever shaped hole in the snow.

Minho pitches the first snowball, hitting Gally square in the face and from there on its a free for all. Thomas ducks behind the nearest tree and clumps together a handful of snow the best he can to launch it at Clint whose closest. Clint tries to throw one back but it catches an unsuspecting Jeff instead who turns to him with a shout of protests and dives forwards to tackle him down fully into the snow.

Thomas laughs at the shriek that Jeff gives and ducks to avoid the one Winston pelts at him and returns one with equal force, it catches Winston in the ear and he curses loudly as it crumbles down his neck.

Laughter rings out across the yard as the fight grows, all of them screaming out in protest when they inevitably get hit in the face. It takes five of them to pin Gally down, shoving handfuls of snow down the neck of his shirt and in retaliation he sweeps Sonya up off of her feet, holding her over his shoulder with ease as he swings around and drops her face-first into a particularly deep pile, rubbing her face in it for good measure. When he lets her up, her face is red and her hair is wet but she wears a bright grin on her face as she throws a measly handful back at his feet that he skips away from.

The fighting slowly tapers off and instead, they put their efforts together to crush as much snow as possible into two giant balls. It takes longer than Thomas expected it to before they’re able to lift the smaller one to balance on top of the larger one. Gally lifts Sonya up again, to sit on his shoulders this time, so she can pull down an already dead branch off of one of the trees and they break it up to make two arms.

Chuck reappears, his pale cheeks flushed from the cold with a pocket full of pebbles and a carrot in his outstretched hand.

Harriet declares that it’s vitally important that the carrot goes in last and Thomas doesn’t have the snowman building experience to question her so takes the pebbles of questionable origin and poke them in to make two eyes and a slightly crooked smiley face. Aris uses three more to make up the buttons of his imaginary coat before they finally declare it is time for the carrot.

Minho plays an imaginary fanfare through his hand as Ben brings it forth, bowing to the crowd dramatically before shoving it in the centre of its face with considerably less ceremony. Minho grabs the bag that he’d bought down with him and set aside as the fight broke out and now pulls out a baseball cap and scarf that he’d bought from the school’s store at Freshers and dressed the snowman with a serious look of concentration on his face as he tries not to knock his arms off with the weight of the scarf.

“Ta da!” he finally declares, stepping back with cautious jazz hands like he’s ready to dive forward and catch the head if it goes rolling off. But surprisingly, it stays put.

Sonya insists on getting a group photo with it - Frank, Aris dubs him - and they all gather together, shivering and dripping as Sonya balances her phone on top of the bag and the rest of the branch to set a timer before she ducks back under Harriet’s arm. 

It takes six attempts to get a picture that she deems appropriate, where someone isn’t trying to shove snow in someone’s face before they all bundle back inside, calling dibs on the first hot showers. The heat of the hallway makes Thomas’ skin prickle after being out in the cold for so long, but as he pulls his soaked gloves off with his teeth the heat feels nice against his aching joints.

They pile into the elevator to go back up, something Thomas thinks Newt is especially grateful for as he sags back against the wall, carefully balanced on one leg as he exchanges lighthearted jibes with Frypan and Minho. As much as the cold makes Thomas’ bones ache, he knows it’s ten times as hard on Newt’s leg, yet he covers it with that lazy grin of his that disarms anyone with ease.

Once they’re back upstairs and have reconvened in drier clothes, they make a pan full of hot chocolate and with probably all of the blankets and cushions on the floor, settle in to watch the entire Christmas movie section on Netflix. The space in the living area isn’t really big enough for fifteen people but they make it work, tangled together in a large pile of limbs, with no concept of personal space Minho’s head ends up on Thomas’ stomach, his legs spread out across Newt’s lap and when Thomas looks towards Sonya, Harriet and Aris, he can hardly tell whose legs are whose.

But its somehow comfortable and cosy as the title starts playing and Thomas doesn’t think he’d rather be anywhere else for the holidays.  


**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: Lea or Leigh means meadow or glade which ya know... seemed fitting!
> 
> Happy Holidays!!


End file.
